More than 20 years ago, Nigel West was the associate director of Me and My Girl at the historic Adelphi Theatre in Westminster when Drayton Entertainment’s artistic director Alex Mustakas approached him about bringing the play to a small theatre in Ontario.

“It’s in the middle of nowhere, will you come and do it?” West recalled the query.

“Long story short, I ended up coming across and it was kind of interesting, moving from the full-size thing in the West End to little Drayton, but the whole thing worked.”

West returned to Drayton in 1996 to direct a production of She Loves Me and directed Me and My Girl at the King’s Wharf Theatre in Penetanguishene in 1999.

The highly acclaimed director is coming back again for Mary Poppins – the inaugural production at the new, 500-seat Dunfield Theatre Cambridge this spring. As part of the recent announcement, Mustakas mentioned that trust is inherent in longstanding relationships, and he promises that audiences will be blown away by the calibre of the production.

West has travelled the world in recent years, directing the U.S. National Tour of The Producers and a UK production of The Wizard of Oz, which toured the United States for four years, including a season at New York’s Madison Square Garden. He also directed the first German speaking production of The Producers in Vienna and Berlin, and Chicago in Australia, Singapore, Korea, Madrid, Barcelona, and London. His London credits include associate director of the Tony and Olivier award-winning Crazy For You and the Olivier award-winning Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

“The timing was right for me to have a new project,” West said, during an interview, from London, England. “Mary is a big challenge, it’s a big show, so the package of doing a new project for me and opening a new venue kind of adds another element to it.”

Dunfield Theatre Cambridge is still under construction and West said a lot of initial work for the musical production will be done over Skype and under tight timelines. Rehearsals will begin in February.

“We’re still putting in place a designer. That should happen this week. The casting process - Alex has a lot of ideas…I can’t tell you names at the moment because we want to do an announcement, but I think we have our Mary and I think we have our Bert.”

Mustakas said the complete roster should be rolled out over the next few weeks.

The theatre is on schedule and on budget.

“We’re getting close,” he said. “I would think we’re going to be in there officially by the end of the year.”

Mustakas explained that Drayton Entertainment is one of the first production companies in Canada to receive the rights to create its own version of Mary Poppins.

“The production that plays Broadway and the West End...it’s the original production,” he said. “We’re not allowed to copy the movie or anything like that because of copyright law, so it will be our version of Mary Poppins.”

It’s Cameron Mackintosh’s and Disney’s script and score, West explained. “But other than that it’s new,” he said. “That’s what attracted me to it really, because otherwise I’d just be creating someone else’s work.”

Inherently, the story doesn’t change.

“Mary Poppins is Mary Poppins, so you won’t be changing the heart of the story or anything like that,” Mustakas said. “But it has to be our version with our own set, our own costumes and our own budget. As you know, this show is really about magic and in fact we’re going to take that theme for the entire year – if you really believe in your heart, anything can happen.”

“Mary has to fly and we have to do it live every night without fail in front of an audience and that’s actually probably the biggest challenge – coming up with those effects, those tricks, those visuals,” West said. “But that’s actually what really appeals to me.”

The lavish stage spectacle centres on the timeless tale of the Banks family and how the lives of family members change following the arrival of nanny Mary Poppins at their home at 17 Cherry Tree Lane in London. The production is filled with special effects and a score of memorable songs.

Leigh Constantine has been hired as choreographer for the Cambridge production. She’s spent many years in London’s West End, starting her career as a performer in such high profile productions as Anything Goes, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Chicago, Singin’ in the Rain, Fame, and Oklahoma!. She was the associate choreographer of Susan Stroman’s Tony award-winning The Producers, collaborated with West as choreographer for The Wizard of Oz and is currently the resident director and choreographer of Rock of Ages in London.